As a war of words kicks off over the state of the European venture capital industry, the return of a French VC from the Valley to London seems strangely apposite. Philippe Botteri, a Frenchman, but nurtured in the ways of American VCs, brings an interesting perspective on the differences between the two worlds: some of it to do with the fractured European market, some of it do with the nature of European politics and a lot of it to do with a lack of entrepreneurial culture. Not all that surprisingly he didn’t see a lack of risk by European VCs.

The biggest difference, he said, was that old problem. European cultural attitudes.

“Working for a start up is different from working for a big company,” he said. “One of the things I have seen in the U.S. is the readiness of people to be entrepreneurs, to create something new, to take their destiny in their own hands and to create their own dreams.”

This lack of entrepreneurial culture is something you hear in Berlin, Brussels and Barcelona. Europeans are too comfortable said one Israeli VC operating in Berlin. They are not hungry enough.

If you want to understand the difference between Europe’s attitude to entrepreneurship and that of the U.S., talk to Zaryn Dentzel, CEO of the Spanish social network Tuenti.

“I had to spend more than €200,000 on lawyer fees just to create our share option plan. It’s so difficult to give people a piece of the company. Everything is so built around protecting the workers rights as a worker, that they have lost sight of the fact that you can be an owner of the business.

“That is what we tried to do at Tuenti. These are not workers. We are going to give them shares and let them own a piece of this business. Quit worrying about all this regulation about hours and vacation and all that stuff. It’s their business too. Let them make it successful.

“The problem is the regulation in Europe is more focussed on protection than on empowerment.”

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Tech Europe covers Europe’s technology leaders, their companies, and the people and industries that support them — and their ideas. The blog is edited by Ben Rooney, with contributions from The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires.